<p>I have worked as an alumni volunteer (from a large public midwest university) at a couple of college fairs in my town for several years- we do not collect any information from interested students- we are told to direct the interested students directly to the admissions webpage to express interest, We hand out brochures and answer general questions- it is just a first step for most students. It’s a time to look at all the options- location, size, public or private, urban or suburban/rural? The smaller private colleges in our geographic region are more likely to be represented by a member of the admissions staff. </p>
<p>Kids don’t usually know enough to ask questions so I agree with the original poster. However, the flip side is, if you ask questions you get information. The more you do this, the better you get at it. It also helps if you meet the same attendee that came to your school. You might remember something from their presentation that will spark a one-on-one conversation. An easy open ended question can be as simple as “what makes your school unique”. These attendees know their schools inside and out so give them a chance to talk about it.</p>
<p>This summer, DS attended a small fair in our town hosted by five schools well known for their engineering programs. After each school gave a brief presentation and Q&A, students and parents rushed for the tables. DS laughed at the crush at the Cal Tech table as he estimated that over half the auditorium was lining up to talk to a school whose entire incoming class will be less than half the size of that line. The reason he attended the fair was to talk to the one school on his list he was least familiar with. He was able to talk to that rep for quite a while. The rep asked about his interests, his stats, and his sport. He took everything down and gave DS his card with the contact information of the head of the program DS is interested in and told him to e-mail the program head about their conversation before he went to bed that night. He did, and he has been in contact with that person ever since. That school went from the bottom of his list to one of his EA choices, so the fair was very informative and well worth attending for him.</p>